Good attractions to escape a downpour?

[PinkMagnolia]

What are smart attractions to escape an Orlando downpour at UO and IoA? At Disney, we'd head into Philharmagic, Muppet Vision, Universe of Energy.

I've always felt it was smart to wait out that downpour as most people leave - I'm just not familiar with Universal enough to know which rides have that covered queue and long-ish ride to wait out the rain.

 

[sherlockmiles]

Poseidon, forbidden journey, terminator, horror makeup show, simpsons

 

[tony67]

Hogs head pub for a few pints - the only issue is you really cant stand at the bar comfortably during a rain storm because there will be two lines of people ordering drinks and really nowhere to stand except the small space between the two registers. The really need a better setup for ordering drinks

 

[Kivara]

IoA: main store (it will get crowded with people hiding from the rain, but it is a large store with a lot to look at)
across the "street" from the main store is a candy shop and Christmas shop; they are open to each other inside, so lots to browse (they sell Big Pink donuts too...that's where we grab one before heading out of IoA)

Jurassic Park Discovery Center...upper floor has a burger place to eat, lower floor is the Discovery Center...lots of neat interactive things, if your crew is into dinos

Poisidon's Fury show or Sinbad's show (if the times line up that you can go inside to wait)


If you don't have Express Pass:
Cat in the Hat ride
Forbidden Journey
Spider-Man
Hulk
all rides that can have long waits, mostly, if not all inside lines (with Express Passes, the lines may be rather short, so beware)

US:

Minions ride (two inside pre-shows, ride, and shop are under roof (EP line is mostly under cover, not sure about regular line)
Shrek, ditto of Minions
Mummy line & ride is inside, although with Express, it might not be a long wait
Men In Black (inside line and ride...again, may not be long)
Fallon ride (pretty sure wait & ride is all indoors...never seen it)
Simpsons ride, mostly under cover for the line, pre-show/wait and ride is all indoors
ET (line under cover, pre-shows, and ride inside)

If you are there at show times, Fear Factor and Animal Actors are open, with an overhead cover...Terminator and Horror Make-Up are inside. (You can walk around inside Horror Make-Up & look at items, without going to the show, or while waiting for the show.

There's also several places to eat in both parks. We like to go to Finnegans...if the rain lets up & you are by a window on the one side, you can watch the Blues Brothers from your table.

I'm sure there's more, but I'm going from the top of my head

 

[StrawberryChan]

US is a better park to do than IoA in the rain, so if you have a parkhopper, you might want to head over there. taking the hogwarts express is a good idea, but at IoA more of the queue is outdoors compared to the US queue, which is completely indoors. if you're staying at IoA, you can also do kong; it's completely covered, and they take an alternate route on the ride itself to avoid going in the rain. at US, basically every ride and show is covered except for rip ride rock-it and kang & kodos, so you'll be fine ducking into any ride besides those. very few rides have a completely outdoor queue, as they're generally used for overflow crowds if a ride is exceptionally busy. that's the best advice i can give from personal experience, so good luck if you ever get caught in a downpour!

 

[georgina]

Lots of good ideas listed already. I seem to recall being really cold in Men in Black building. Definitely Poseidon is a good one. We were watching the Sinbad show once when it was stopped due to lightning, so maybe good in rain but not lightning?

 

[qemom]

Not a ride, but Knockturn Alley is a good place as well.

 

[RalphinSC]

Horror Make up show worked awesome for us in a downpour, as did Terminator. All inside waiting and decent length on the shows. Same for Poseidon's Fury in IOA.

 

[Disxuni]

Universal would definitely would be the place to be if that happens, as a lot of the queues as someone previously stated are more inside, as well as most of the shows are on that side as well.

Also, even if you do decide to endure the rain, or it storms, certain rides shut down, and a lot of the rides that would do so, would be in IoA, so just another reason to be on the Universal side if you can.

List of rides that are mainly outside, not well covered are, or closed due to weather:

- Universal
The Simpsons (poorly covered outside queue)
Shrek 4-D (partially uncovered outside queue)
RRR (poorly covered outside queue)
Kang and Kudos' Twirl N Hurl (most queue uncovered)
- Islands of Adventure
Popeye & Blutos
Dudley Do Right
The Hulk
Dr Dooms Fear Fall
Jurassic Park River Adventure
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Caro-Seuss-El
Seuss Trolley
Pteranodon Flyers
Flight of the Hippogriff

Also, if there is strong weather Kong is a little shorter of a ride. As of right now, that's all the rides I can think of that you want to avoid if there is strong rain, or storms.

 

[zebsterama]

The Mummy and Horror Make-up Show ... and any of the simulator rides.